The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-12-01
ROASTED INDIANS.
Cremation as Practiced in AIasISa-Pro-
viding the Spirit With Square
Neal.


Alaska, says the San Francisco Chrog-
icle, the practice of cremation is uni
yersal, except in the case of Shamans,
or medicine men, whose spirits after
death inhabt higher world apart
from the common herd. and slaves
who are considered scarcely worthy OF
this distinction.
With the last breath tidings go out
to the clan, who assemble with black
| ened faces to mourn the dead, and in
former years the nearer relatives cut
off the hair. The corpse is now dressed
| in the mOstvalued garments, the face
decorated in red and black, and
placed in a sitting position, with back
TO the wall, opposite the entrance. All
the property of the deceased is now
brought and piled on either hand-the
Thlinket counts his wealth in blankets,
kept stored away in campaor-wood or
| cedar chests. Masks, rattles, robes,
guns hunting and fishing implements,
and dancing paraphernalia are placed
| directly around; the head is surmount-
ed by a grotesquely-ca wooden
| mask in totemic design, brilliant in
its inlaying Of holiotis-shell and topped
| by semi-transparent forest of sea-
| lion whiskers. while over the body is
| thrown a highly ornamental blanket,
| woven from the finer fleece of the
mountain goat and worked in black,
hite, yellow, and blue from old pat
term boards that have been handed
down through generations until the
designs have become conventional.
For three days the dead remains a
silent spectator of household affairs,
| which have to 90 on much as usual, as
a number of families live under the
same roof. Visitors come and 90,
food is prepared at the common cen
I tral fire, and children toddle about.
tumbling over the sleeping dogs, but
Il general air Of quiet prevails until
nightfall, when the tribe assemblies
with drum, rattle, and dancing-sticks,
and to their measured accompaniment
| keep time in mOnotOnOUs chant, eu-
logizing and lamenting the dead.
The scene is weird to a degree, the
many colored blankets, the blackened
face, the walls hung with arms and
fishing implements, the curiously
carved and colored hOuse-Dosts; while
festoons Of dried fish aud meat de-
pend from the roof, and all seen
through the ftful flashes Of the crack
ling fire of cedar logs, over which at
intervals Oil is dashed to redouble the
effect.
For three nights this scene is re-
| peated, but on the third day the wealth
of the deceased is distributed among
the relatives, each receiving a certain
portion, as Judged by popular consent.
TIE funeral pyre is now erected di-
rectly in the rear of the house, or on
the outskirts of the village, in prox-
unity to the shore. Logs of the fra
| grant yellow cedar are now brought
and laid upon each other. forming a
hollow parallelogram seven feet long
by three vide. At height of from
two to three feet a flooring of logs is
laid, le aving air spaces between them,
above which the walls are continued
| for another loot. Beneath the floor
ing and around the sides kindling and
| spruce knots saturated with gum are
placed.
Ali being in readiness, on this the
fourth day the class assemble, a plank
is removed from the side or end Of the
house, and through this opening the
! 1ittlti ID ltIIltt Oh Il IlldL lIdUc from
the inner bark of the red cedar, for it
is strongl ly-rooted superstition
among these people that, should the
body pass through the doorway, later
the death-spirit would return to claim
more victims. As the body is carried
out an Old woman takes some Goals
and fragments from the fire and
scatters them after it, to drive away
the spirit of death and cleanse the
passageway, and afterward throws out
a dog to accompany its masters spirit
to the world beyond.
The procession now makes its way
slowly toward the place selected for
| cremation, and when reached the body
is deposited on the raised flooring of
the pyre and torch applied to the
resinous splinters, readily igniting the
whole mass. The women in full
dancing habiliments, consisting OF
blue-black blanket faced with red
cloth and ornamented with hundreds
of mother-of- buttons, fancy
colored caps, or head-dresses of raven
or eagle feathers, immense earrings
and nose pendants, faces blackened,
and carrying in their right hand long
pole, the end decorated with sprigs of
| evergreen and bright streamers, form
in half-circle about the head of the
pile. The men, with dancing-sticks
and rattles, are grouped on one side.
The nearer relatives sit about promis-
cuouSly, moaning and wailing. The
older men lead the chant, or dirge,
which is Joined in by all, and to its
slow notes the women keep time with
the body swaying from side to side
and bowing in unison, reminding one
of the famous sword-dance of the
| Bedouins.
Oftentimes the arms and personal
| belongings of the deceased are thrown
on the fire, which, by means of long
| poles, is constantly stirred, and the
| chant continues until the body is re-
duced to ashes and the logs consumed.
| The family collect any remains OF
bones and the supposed ashes, which
| are carefully deposited in small dec
grated boxes or trunks covered with
cedar mating, corded with spruce
roots, and finally placed in dead
houses or family vaults directly in the
. rear of the houses.
Everyone now returns to the house,
| where a grand least Is prepared, con-
sisting Of dried salmon dipped in seal
! oil, herring spawn, potatoes, roots,
berries, edible seaweed, shell fish. seal
meat, aud tallow from the fat of the
wild goat Of the mountains. Since
the establishment of many trading
posts at convenient points through
out this section, large quantities of
hard bread, flour, sugar. and tea are
consumed on these festive occasions,
and are much relished by the natives,
who considerthat Inequality of thewhite
mans food gives him his superiority
and, as they express it, is ''shookum
[strongl for Indian man." But dried
salmon and seal oil will ever remain
the Tnlinket's hearts delight.
Food and grease are placed in
carved platters and consigned to the